In recent months, Healy and other lobstermen assisted local researchers such as Kevin Hovel at San Diego State University in trapping about 5,000 lobsters, a number that’s expected to hit roughly 60,000 next year. Each caught crustacean is tagged with a numbered, plastic marker and measured before being returned to the to sea.

Lobstermen have been asked to report any tags they find, along with location coordinates, at taggedlobster.com. Healy figures some of his colleagues won’t want anything to do with the reserves and won’t cooperate. Hovel said he’s confident about getting enough results to describe lobster activity at his six research sites.

A central issue is whether lobsters and other marine life flourish inside the reserves so that creatures venture outside where they can be caught.

“The bill of sale is that there will be a lot of spillover,” said Healy, who is skeptical about the claim. At a marine reserve near Laguna Beach, he’s seen “lots of very large lobsters” that seem to remain just out of legal reach.

Based on prior research, Hovel expects lobster movement will “differ very much based on the location and the habitat.”